Although he was inwardly ridiculing Shrek Academy, Nan Fusheng's expression remained perfectly calm.
He said,
"Anyway, this is a great opportunity for us.
Don't dwell too much on rankings—just treat this as a real battle experience. As long as we give our all, it'll be a valuable exercise. Who knows, maybe in the future, we really might have a chance to join Shrek Academy."
"That's right! Let's all do our best!"
Tang Wulin agreed with Nan Fusheng. As he spoke, he was the first to extend his hand. Gu Yue quickly placed both her hands on top of his, then grabbed Xu Xiaoyan's hand and placed it over her own.
Xie Xie, as an agility-attack type Soul Master, was ironically the slowest to react. Just as he was about to put his hand in, Xu Xiaoyan swiftly dragged Nan Fusheng's hand and placed it down first.
In the end, Xie Xie could only slap his hand on top, fuming.
"You two… just how much do you hate me?"
Gu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan exchanged a glance, smiled, and answered in unison:
"About the same as we hate flies."
"You—!" (▼皿▼#)
——
The next morning, Wu Zhangkong led Class Zero's four members out of the academy, heading straight for the central Eastsea Square.
All four wore Eastsea Academy's uniforms. This time, Wu Zhangkong wasn't the only one leading; Director Long Hengxu was also with them.
And the academy wasn't sending just their group—there were participants from the senior division as well.
The senior division team was competing in the Youth Group, ages fifteen to twenty. Among them, Nan Fusheng recognized one: Xu Xiaoyan's older brother, Xu Xiaoyu. There was also another familiar face—Liu Yuxin, the beautiful senior sister who had welcomed new students when Nan Fusheng first arrived at Eastsea City.
"Xiaoyan, if they bully you, just tell me." Xu Xiaoyu, passing by, spoke to his little sister with an almost provocative air.
Xu Xiaoyan rolled her eyes.
"Worry about yourself. Don't let history repeat itself and fail to pass preliminaries again."
Xu Xiaoyu's face stiffened.
"Impossible. Our team this time all have three soul rings or more—we'll achieve a good result."
They were also competing in a team match, and not just any match, but the highly prestigious seven-man team battle.
Xu Xiaoyan only curled her lips in disdain.
From their sibling exchange, Nan Fusheng could tell Eastsea Academy's past performance in the competition had been… less than ideal. More than "less than ideal."
Considering Eastsea City was the second-largest city on the East Coast, such results were truly embarrassing. No wonder the academy was desperate.
Nan Fusheng's guess was right. As Eastsea City's only middle-tier Soul Master academy, the overall quality of students was low.
The Heavenly Sea Alliance Tournament was jointly hosted by the five first-tier cities on the East Coast, along with several smaller cities.
And as one of the major cities, Eastsea's results had been dismal. It wasn't just the academy that lost face—the city's officials were humiliated as well.
That was why Long Hengxu's proposal to form Class Zero, to nurture emerging geniuses, had been approved so quickly.
If things continued this way, Eastsea's reputation itself would suffer. And given the city's rapid economic growth, that would be disastrous.
By leveraging the Heavenly Sea Alliance Tournament, the academy hoped these ten-year-old prodigies could showcase Eastsea's potential and, in turn, secure more official support from the city government.
After all, they were only ten years old. Their futures were limitless.
——
By the time they arrived at Eastsea Square, it was already filled with people and several luxury soul-powered buses. Everything was strictly organized for departure.
The square bustled with noise—academy teams, associations, and other groups were all present.
The Heavenly Sea Alliance Tournament covered a wide range of events—mecha battles, battle armor duels, and more.
Eastsea's position within the Alliance mirrored Eastsea Academy's position within the city—awkward. Economically, they ranked near the top. But in other fields—battle armor masters, mecha engineers, mecha tech, and even Soul Master numbers and quality—they lagged far behind.
The advantages in those fields all belonged to Sun Moon City (Mingdu) and Heaven Dou City.
As for Shrek City, it wasn't even considered part of the Federation for such rankings. In truth, Shrek City was independent of federal authority.
——
"Students and teachers of Eastsea Academy, board the buses."
Eastsea Academy was assigned Bus No. 6. Under the teachers' guidance, the students filed on.
Gu Yue naturally kicked Xie Xie aside and sat with Tang Wulin.
Xie Xie, forced to retreat, tried to sit beside Xu Xiaoyan instead—only for Xu Xiaoyu to grab him by the collar, set him aside, and take the seat himself.
"You—!" Xie Xie was furious, but powerless against Xu Xiaoyu's strength. Reluctantly, he took a seat further back.
But before Xu Xiaoyu could sit comfortably, his sister shoved him away—then, to his horror, she turned and called out warmly:
"Fusheng, over here, sit with me!"
She even patted the seat beside her.
Xu Xiaoyu's eyes widened in disbelief as the very man who had once "played dirty" and narrowly defeated him—Nan Fusheng—smiled politely and said,
"Sorry about that."
Grinding his teeth, Xu Xiaoyu had no choice but to slump into a back seat next to Xie Xie, glaring daggers at the two in front.
Nan Fusheng leaned back and closed his eyes, but Xu Xiaoyan kept chattering beside him, forcing him to respond now and then.
Watching this scene, Xu Xiaoyu's fury burned. My little sister is actively trying to get closer to this guy, and he's still brushing her off? His fists itched to strike.
He wanted to butt in, but Xu Xiaoyan glared at him fiercely, leaving him no choice but to shrink back into his seat.
Next to him, Xie Xie laughed inwardly: Serves you right for stealing my seat. Now you get to watch your cabbage run off to feed that pig. Feels good, doesn't it?
Just then, Xu Xiaoyu's hand clamped down on Xie Xie's shoulder.
Xie Xie turned and saw Xu Xiaoyu smiling with "kindness."
"I want to ask… can you tell me in detail what my sister's daily life in Class Zero is like?"
"…Hah? That's your way of asking politely—"
"Hmm?"
Feeling the pressure of Xu Xiaoyu's Soul Elder aura, Xie Xie quickly caved.
"You've asked the right person! Whether it's Xu Xiaoyan or anyone else, no one in Class Zero knows their daily lives better than I do!"
Xu Xiaoyu nodded in satisfaction and withdrew his oppressive aura, listening carefully.
But the more he listened, the worse his face became.
Why did it sound like… his precious cabbage was the one chasing after the pig?